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We are very excited for the opportunity to again host the internationally respected herbalist, Richo Cech, for another workshop on Saturday, September 30. He is the founder of Horizon Herbs, now known as Strictly Medicinal Seeds, and the author of many popular books about herbs and herbal medicines.

Please see the Chicago ashram website for more information. Click here

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On Monday, I returned to Chicago after the Dallas AmritaSRI (Silent Retreat Immersion). After such a profound experience, the mind has no words to express what transpired, but perhaps some photos may convey what all of us felt. Hopefully, this will encourage people to come to Chicago in early April for the next one.

Just before the concluding meditation session on Sunday, February 26, we all truly felt Amma’s divine presence when a beautiful, bright white swan flew directly over the meditation hall, over my head, and landed gracefully in the lake.

In the concluding sessions after breakfast on Sunday, the retreatants came out of their vow of silence consciously, after praying for Grace to the god and goddess of speech. There was also an opportunity to share experiences for those who wished.

Deepest gratitude to everyone who came, and especially to the devotees who worked tirelessly for weeks and months to make this event a reality. Most of all, thanks to Amma for her divine guidance and grace, without which none of this would have been possible.

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Another project that has been keeping me very busy over the past year has been the new medicinal herb farm in Chicago.

After months of planning that began in December 2015, the 2016 growing season in Chicago began on March 27, with a seed starting bonanza in the GreenWorks building. The task ahead was quite a daunting one — creating a 2-acre medicinal herb farm with 35 different varieties of plants. As nearly 10,000 medicinal herb seedlings needed to be sprouted and planted in the field within 2 months, there was no time to waste.

With the urgency of purpose and high stakes, I knew we needed some heavy firepower, so I called in for reinforcements… AYUDH! 🙂

After watching a short instructional video on seed starting, prepared by dedicated Japanese devotees, I became the de facto subject matter expert (?!), showing everyone what to do. This day was for sowing the seeds of the less cold-hardy plants that would need more time to mature before being transplanted in the field.

The youth quickly took over and immersed themselves in the process.

Each one of the dozens of 72 cell-trays prepared was labeled with the name of the plant and the date the seeds had been sown.

In a short time, we had finished enough trays for almost 1400 plants. Not bad for a group of beginners…

In the days to follow, many more such trays were prepared, until we had all of the herbs below ready to sprout.

After yesterday’s post about Amma’s new Dallas ashram, some people may be wondering what kind of regular activities are happening and when the next larger program will be taking place. First of all, since September, weekly satsangs have been taking place on Saturdays from 4 pm to 6 pm. If you would like to attend, just type “MA Center Dallas” in Google Maps on your computer or mobile device, and it should pick up the location right away, for easy navigation. Or, you can just click here.

Regarding larger programs, the title of this post already gives away the next one. During the Fall Europe/USA Tour last year, Amma mentioned several times that we should start week-long silent meditation retreats in the USA. Though I wanted to get started right away, the need for preparation and providing advance notice to prospective attendees meant that the earliest date we could feasibly accomplish such a program would be mid-February.

Now, mid-February didn’t sound like an ideal time to start something new in Chicago, with its daunting and unpredictable winter weather. So, we decided to conduct the retreat in Dallas, which would also give people from other regions to visit the new ashram and enjoy its tranquil beauty.

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One reason for changing the blog name has been the recent formation of a new ashram in Dallas, Texas — MA Center Dallas. Formerly a horse ranch, it is located in North Dallas, outside of Denton, in an area known as “Horse Country USA”.

MA Center Dallas will be thefocal point in the region for regular spiritual activities such as bhajans, guided meditation & yoga, retreats, discourses and the celebration of all major festivals and holidays. The ashram will also serve as a medium through which many of Amma’s projects and initiatives will help to uplift society in the South Central region.

Due to the addition of this ashram to the Central Region, I have been spending much more
time in Dallas recently, and expect to continue to do so in the days to come. Hope to see many of you there sometime soon…

Now that I am here for a sojourn in Amritapuri, India, I am finally finding time to catch up.

今はインドのアムリタプリに滞在中。やっと更新するところです。

The first order of business has been to rename this blog. It used to be “Life in Chicago Ashram”, but due to new developments I have changed it to “Spiritual Life in Central USA”. The reasons for this will become clearer in future posts.

まずは、このブログを改名することから始めたいと思います。このブログはこれまで「Life in Chicago Ashram」だったのですが、新たな展開があり、このブログの名前を「Spiritual Life in Central USA、（アメリカ中部のスピリチュアルライフ）」と改名致します。理由につきましては、これから投稿していきます。